Wednesday, May 11, 2005

New Poll Shows 62% of WI happy with Gov. Doyle...spin that GOP3.com

MADISON — A majority of Wisconsin residents approve of the job Gov. Jim Doyle is doing, a new poll indicates.The poll, sponsored by Wisconsin Public Radio and conducted by St. Norbert College Survey Center, found 62 percent of respondents either very satisfied with Doyle’s performance or somewhat satisfied.Thirty-four percent said they were somewhat dissatisfied or very dissatisfied, while the rest were not sure, according to the poll, released today.

The poll surveyed 400 randomly selected residents by telephone between April 25 and May 4. The margin of error was listed as plus or minus five percentage points.In spring of 2003, 68 percent of respondents approved of the job Doyle was doing, while 65 percent approved in fall of 2003.Wendy Scattergood, assistant professor of political science who oversaw the poll, cautioned those numbers were all within the poll’s margin of error, meaning it does not necessarily reflect dropping support for the governor.Doyle is up for re-election next year. U.S. Rep. Mark Green of Green Bay and Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker have entered the race for the Republican nomination to oppose Doyle.Doyle spokeswoman Melanie Fonder said the numbers show Wisconsin residents support the budget the governor proposed earlier this year to deal with the state’s $1.6 billion deficit. In his plan, the governor proposed closing the shortfall through a series of spending cuts, accounting moves and borrowing. He also proposed pumping an additional $800 million into public schools to ease their reliance on property taxes.Green spokesman Mark Graul countered the poll numbers show the more people get to know Doyle, the less they like about him. He also said it was remarkable that after 12 years as attorney general and more than two years as governor, only 10 percent of respondents said they were very satisfied with the job Doyle is doing.“If I was an incumbent going into re-election, I’d be very nervous about that,” Graul said.The same poll found 51 percent of respondents approved of the job President Bush was doing, with 49 percent disapproving. That’s up slightly from 45 percent approval in spring 2004. Bush narrowly lost Wisconsin to John Kerry in November by just more than 11,000 votes.Also, 54 percent of respondents said the country was headed in the wrong direction, and 42 percent said they expect to be better off financially next year than they are now.

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The purpose of this blog is to report issues that involve the campuses of Marquette and Indiana University and to comment on local, state, and national news. While this blog celebrates Andrew Jackson's founding of the Democratic party, 1832 will criticize the Democratic Party and will offer guest blogger invites to Republicans and Independents as warranted to further intellectual development and discourse.